KARACHI  - Stocks closed higher at the quarter end close on institutional support in selected stocks across the board.
At KSE benchmark 100-share index posted a fresh gain of 43.78 points or 0.16 percent to end the day at 27159.91 points compared to 27116.13 points of the last working day on Friday.  KSE-Allshare up by 17.45 points or 0.09 percent to finish the day at 20396.67 points, KSE-30 index shed by 29.62 points or 0.15 percent to stop the day at 19170.92 points while KMI-30 index added 118.83 points or 0.27 percent to conclude the session at 44607.78 points.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said trade remained thin, investors remained cautious after special court indicted former army chief in treason case. Finance Minister assurance on World Bank $10.2b assistance to Pakistan over next 5 years, speculations ahead of CPI Inflation data for Mar'14 and higher international oil prices played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments at KSE.
Market traded 136.886 million shares after opening at 170.778 million shares and the value of traded shares was reduced to Rs 6.925 billion from Rs 7.232 billion. Capitalisation of the equity market maintained at Rs 6.579 compared to Rs 6.573 trillion of the previous session.  Trading took place in 361 companies where losers beat the gainers 170 to 161 while the value of 30 stocks remained intact. Rafhan maize XD was the top price loser of the day decreased by Rs 371.50 to Rs 9110 followed by Bata (Pak) down by Rs 38.64 to Rs 2736.75. Pak Tobacco and Sanofi-Aventis were the biggest price gainers of the day increased by Rs 56.69 to Rs 1275.69 and 36.50 to Rs 766.50. 
Active list was topped by Summit Bank with 16.106 million shares as it closed at Rs 3.40 after opening at Rs 3.08. Lafarge Pak was the second highest volume leader of the day with 12.410 million shares off by Re 0.16 to Rs 11.14. It was followed by Silk Bank Limited with 8.296 million, Dera Ghazi Khan Cement XD with 5.144 million, NIB Bank Limited with 4.613 million, Fauji Cement XD 4.059 million, Pace (Pak) Ltd with 3.758 million, Oil & Gas Devel with 3.365 million, Maple Leaf Cement with 3.113 million and Bank-Al-Habib XDXB with 3.031 million shares, respectively.